Litter Robot Self-Cleaning Litter Box Review

Like millions of cat owners, I was a big fan of the concept of an automated litter box, but I found that the Litter Maid simply could not keep up with the sheer volume of what my cats produced. Not only that, but the liners for the receptacle tray were expensive. So when I discovered the Litter Robot, a large domed automatic litterbox that has a litterbox sized tray on the bottom and can be lined with a garbage bag, I was on board, even in spite of the steep $300 price tag.

About the Litter Robot
The Litter Robot is a pretty sizeable device, so you can't really use it in areas where you want a discreet litterbox pan. We've stashed ours in a closet with a power receptacle. Essentially, the product is a large round sphere that sits atop a collection pan. Cats step up on the exterior ledge, which trips a sensor, and then enter the Litter Robot to do their business on standard clumping litter. Several minutes after the cat exits the box, the motor starts whirring and the sphere begins to rotate. It pours all the litter over a built-in screen, separating out the newly-deposited clumps, and deposits those clumps into the collection bin at the bottom of the device.

Using the Litter Robot & How Well It Works
It didn't take very long for our cats to get accustomed to doing their business in the Litter Robot, and thanks to the shelf-trigger mechanism it's never turned on with them in it. The manual recommends that you don't leave the Litter Robot plugged in if you have kittens under four or five pounds, as they may not trigger the timer properly. When Ray was a kitten, we simply flipped a switch on the power strip we'd plugged the Litter Robot into once a day to activate the cleaning cycle.

Cleaning the litterbox is a dream. I simply pull out the pan, pull up the regular kitchen-sized trash bag, tie a knot in it and take it to the trash. I then replace it with a new bag, attaching it to the bag clips in the collection pan, and slide it back into the base of the Litter Robot. Each time I clean it, I check the level of litter inside the sphere, and if it's low I add a few scoops of litter using a mason jar, just by pouring it in through the opening. The Litter Robot is triggered when the pan is pulled out for cleaning, so several minutes later it rotates and redistributes the freshly-added litter evenly.

Problems with the Litter Robot
Because my tiny little monsters are high-volume litter clumping producers, I have to empty the bottom pan every 2-3 days at most. If I wait any longer, the litter clumps pile up in the pan and slide off the back when I slide it out, creating a clumpy, repulsive mess in the base of the Litter Robot. If that happens, you have to take the entire thing apart and clean it out, which isn't tremendously easy.

Over time, the Litter Robot takes on the odor of well, litter. Even when it's clean it can smell dirty. When this happens, we dismantle the contraption by removing the sphere from the base, and clean all of the pieces. The sphere can be washed, as it's not motorized. You'll want to take care washing the motorized base. We dismantle and clean the Litter Robot once every three to six months. We also had to completely dismantle it and clean it when one of our cats had a fairly explosive gastrointestinal event.

The motor isn't loud, but it's very noticeable when it runs, so don't put the Litter Robot in an area where you don't want the noise.

Cat's Bottom Line
It's expensive. It can be noisy. It's cumbersome to clean. But is the Litter Robot worth it? Absolutely! Cleaning out the litterbox is easier than it has ever been before, and unlike other automated litterboxes, the Litter Robot holds up to three days of litter clumps for my two cats. I love my Litter Robot, and wouldn't ever be without one again!

http://www.litter-robot.com